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Women now hold 27.6% of the board seats at the nine corporations headquartered in Delaware on the Russell 3000 Index—well above the national average of 20.4%—according to the latest Gender Diversity Index published by 2020 Women on Boards (2020WOB). Delaware companies have steadily added women corporate directors to their boards since 2018 when women held 25.9% of board seats in the state, up from 24.3% in 2017. As of June 30, 2019, women directors at Delaware companies held 24 of 87 board seats. At companies on both the 2018 and 2019 Russell 3000 lists, women corporate directors gained a total of three seats between July 2018 and June 2019. In order to add women directors, all of the companies actually increased the number of seats on their boards. “As the preeminent resource tracking progress annually and making that research available online, 2020WOB plays a key role in accelerating women into corporate boardrooms nationwide. We have been advocating for a standard of 20% women on boards by the year 2020 for the last decade, and now we will evolve to seeking gender balance on boards,” explains Betsy Berkhemer-Credaire, CEO of 2020WOB. The GDI also reveals that one Delaware company, Navient Corporation, achieved a gender balanced board in 2019 (an equal number of men and women corporate directors, or a difference of one more woman or man in the case of boards with an odd number of directors), with six women directors out of eleven board members. Stephanie Sonnabend, Co-Founder and Chair of 2020WOB, added, “Delaware companies lead the country in gender diversity on their boards. The GDI report tracks the 26 states with at least 20 Russell 3000 companies, so Delaware is not included. If the state was on the list, it would be at the top. All but two of the nine Delaware-based companies are at 20% or greater women directors.” The most significant gains for women corporate directors at individual companies occurred at Navient Corporation, The Chemours Company and WSFS Financial Corporation, which added one woman each. Four companies have three or more women on their boards, which, according to legislation passed in California in 2018, is the minimum legal standard that companies headquartered there must achieve by the end of 2021 or risk paying heavy fines. 2020WOB’s signature event, the National Conversation on Board Diversity, is attended globally by 10,000 men and women in more than 30 U.S. and international cities, where panelists discuss strategies for getting more women on boards. 2020WOB maintains a steering committee in Delaware who assist the campaign in advocating that companies add women corporate directors. The steering committee is led by Lynn Evans, Managing Director, University of Delaware Women’s Leadership Initiative and Jennifer Smuts, Chief Marketing Officer, Connolly Gallagher LLP. The 2019 National Conversation will take place in Wilmington on November 21st. See all cities hosting events listed: https://2020wob.com/collaborate/.